Bayanda Walaza pressed on with his incredible rise as he won the men’s 100m race at the Boris Hanzekovic Memorial meet in Zagreb on Saturday in 9.94sec, lowering his own national under-20 record in the process.
The 19-year-old, who finished a massive 0.26sec in front of his nearest rival, Owen Ansah of Germany, is now fourth on the all-time age-group list and joint fourth on the overall South African roster, alongside Wayde van Niekerk and training partner Gift Leotlela.
Only countrymen Akani Simbine (9.82), Benjamin Richardson (9.86) and Shaun Maswanganyi (9.91) have been faster.
Walaza broke the national age-group mark in Pretoria in March when he became the ninth South African to dip under 10 seconds, clocking 9.99.
The three faster under-20 runners are Issamade Asinga of Surinam (9.89 in 2023), Botswana’s Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo (9.91 in 2022) and American Christian Miller (9.93 in 2024).
Walaza has enjoyed a meteoric rise in less than a year, winning Olympic silver in the 4x100m relay in Paris, taking the 100m-200m sprint double at the 2024 under-20 world championships in Lima, Peru, and winning 4x100m gold at the World Relays in China earlier this month.
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Updated: June 2025
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